"The years spin along as readily as the miles when Dwight Yoakam starts talking about home...Although he spent his childhood in Columbus, Ohio, and has called Los Angeles home for his entire hit-making career, Yoakam knows the roads and haunts of his homeland as keenly as the musical inspirations to which he was introduced there."

"Earlier this week I appeared in a HuffPost Live debate on the topic of “Mountain Dew Mouth.”The term blames soda in general—and Mountain Dew in particular—for the Appalachian “region's alarmingly high incidence of eroded brown teeth.” It’s true that Appalachia boasts some very high rates of tooth decay. But is Mountain Dew or soda writ large to blame?I’m skeptical."

"Since early March, Kentucky has added hundreds of jobs in places like Louisville, Elizabethtown, Winchester, and Fulton. Here in Eastern Kentucky, however, it’s just the opposite...We don’t know what Gov. Beshear has up his sleeve, or how much he had to do with any of the positive job creation we’re seeing in other parts of the state, but he can’t expect to put his name on those successes while washing his hands of the declining economy in Eastern Kentucky. We’re hearing next to nothing from Frankfort about creating a new economy beyond coal. We need a new vision."

"LG&E wants to abandon coal in favor of natural gas and solar energy at a massive new Muhlenberg County power plant — another sign of coal’s slipping dominance as the fuel of choice for Kentucky electricity.Louisville Gas and Electric and sister company Kentucky Utilities have announced they will seek state regulators’ approval to build the gas-powered facility on the site of a coal plant 130 miles southwest of Louisville — along with the state’s first significant solar facility at a site to be determined."

LG&E coal fired power plant in southwest Louisville, Kentucky.

The Weekly Links is intended to bring awareness of news stories related to the Appalachian region. An article's inclusion in this list does notimply agreement with or approval of all things written within.